Electric-car signal-circuit.



110325347. Pmmwm JULY 10, 1906.

. W LINTBRN.

ELECTRIC GAR SIGNAL CIRCUIT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.-2Z, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrroa- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 10, 1966.

Application filed August 22. 1905. Serial No. 275.2466.

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM LINT ERN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Electric-Oar Si al- Circuits, of which the following is a specification.

o accident or desi to flow from the 'ne conductor to the car the This invention relates to signal-circuits for cars, trains, and other vehicles for which it is adapted;

The more commonly arranged electric signal-lamps as employed heretofore upon cars and trains have been adapted to be supplied from the line or motor circuits, with the consequent disadvanta e that whenever through t e electric current ceases signal-lamps upon the car cease to glow. Since, inorder to avoid accidents, it is important that signal-lights be kept burning continuously, the prime object of theinvention herein described is to provide an electric circuit which will not be interrupted upon the failure of the usual source of supply and to adapt said circuit to operate signals upon electric-railway cars. A further object of the invention. is to provide a signal-circuit for electric cars arranged to be supplied under normal conditions by the line or trolley current, but adapted to be I supplied automatically by means carried upon the car when said normal circuit is interrupted; also, to rovide means for operating si als upon tl ie failure of the line-current 0 a car.

To these ends my invention consists, in general terms, in so connecting a stora e battery or accumulator that it will be c arged from the lineconductor through one of the usual circuits'of an electric'car or train and placing one or more signal-lights or other signal devices in a shunt circuit. or circuits :leading around said battery, making the pro- 4 S portions and connections such that the signals are operated by the line-current while it flows; but immediately upon the cessation of the line-current flowing throu h the car the charged battery begins to supp y said si als and continues to operate them until the inecircuit is restored or until the battery is exhausted.

It also consists in the features and combinations hereinafter more fully described, and defined in the appended claim, an embodiment' thereof as applied to the usual type of electric car being illustrated in the accompanying drawin s, in which- Figure I is a ongitudinal sectional elevation of'a car equip, ed with my signal-circuits. Fig. II isa iagram showing the preferred arrangement of the circuits.

The reference-letter 0 indicates the line conductor of an electric railway, and b is a trolley or other style of connection between said line conductor and a car. i

c is the conducti -wir.e leading from the trolley b to the usua lighting-switch (Z.

The lamps for lighting the car are usually arranged. in grou. s, (represented at Z, Z, and 1 which are fed y a wire e, leading from the switch (1 and rovided with a fuse f. The negative wire of the lamps usually leads directly to the ground 9, bein electrically.

connected to the truck-wheels o the car; but for the purposes of this invention I connect the wire h to one of the oles of a storage bat-. tery or other suitable e ectrical accumulator 7', the other pole of said batte ground connection through the wire 'i.

-A signal device is, which is preferably an incandescent electric lamp inclosed in a suitable casing, is secured to the rear end of the car or train, so that it can be seen by the operator of a following car, and is in a circuit formed by the wire m; connecting it to the wire h,.and the wiren, connecting it to the Wire 5. One or more additional or alternative signal-lamps may be employed by connecting them in a similar manner, as shown at k, representing a signal-lamp upon the forward end of the car connected in a shuntcircuit around the battery by the wires m and n. Thus it will readily be understood that the car-circuit through h and 'i will operate lowevoltage si al-lamps k and k and chargethe storage attery 7' under normal -conditions without affecting to any ap reciable extent the lighting of the car; ut when the trolley b leaves the line-wire a, or

having a.

when the car-circuit is otherwise interru ted whereby the signal-lamp:1 continue to apt to be variable, and so by employin signal-lamps of higher voltage than the ifierence of potential between the oles of the battery sufficient 1i ht for signa s ma still be secured and the attery will work elow its normal capacity.

In addition to the continuously-operated signal-lights 7c and is another signal device such as a bell or gong, as shown at p, or a whistlecan be operated by a circuit from the storage battery 9', re resented by the wires q, r, and s, through the introduction of a suitable magneto drop device to close the said circuit when the car-circuit is interrupted. Any suitable form of ma eto drop device may be used, and suchdd vices are known which are adapted hlso to open the the car-circuit.

circuit of the bell 11: upon the restoration of e coil of an electromagnet' is, connected in the car-circuit-fbr example, in' the wire '11, as shown. A drop t,

hinged at '11,: to the structure of the ma net --andelectrically connected with the con uctor s, is ada ted to be attracted b the magnet and hel out of contact with t e conductorr while the current is passing normally through the car-circuit; but upon the interru tion of the car-circuit throu h the trolley b, reaving the line-wire a or ot er interru tion the dro t ceases to be attracted by t e magnet 0. an falls into contact with the conductorr, thus closing the local circuit of the battery 7', whereby the signalon whistle, or other device p is o erate hen the car-circuit is'restored, t e drop t is lifted out of contact with 1' either automatically or by hand, as in the well-known electric annunciators.

Having described my invention so fully I that those skilled in the art to which it appertains can make and use it, either in the form shown herein or under some modification thereof, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a system of maintaining display-signals for electric railways, the combination with the line conductor, of lamps in series arranged in parallel in circuit with said line conductor, a storage battery, the wire from said lamps being connected to one ole of said battery, the op osite pole of sai batte leading to groun a signal device exterioil y displayed at each end of the car, and connections for each of said signal devices to'said wire of the lamps leadin to said battery and said ground connection 0 said battery.

In testimony whereof I'afiix my signature, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, at Cleveland, Ohio, this 9th day of'August, 1905.

WILLIAM LINTERN Witnesses:

F. W. RANGIN, F. G. RANDALL. 

